PQ 7. Child Poverty—Government Initiatives to Address

7. JACINDA ARDERN
(Labour) to the Minister for Social Development : Does she
agree with the Prime Minister’s statement that “the
fastest way to get children and grown up New Zealanders out
of poverty is through work”, when the latest report on
household incomes states that two out of five children
living in poverty are in households where at least one adult
is in full time work or self-employed?

Hon PAULA BENNETT
(Minister for Social Development): Yes, there are some
people in work who are struggling but they have access to a
range of support including in-work tax credits, the
accommodation supplement, and childcare assistance, and I
certainly encourage people to check their entitlement, as
often people do not know that they can get that. Being in
work is also the best way to gain skills and experience that
could lead to a wage increase, more hours, or even a higher
paying job.

Jacinda Ardern : If work alone is the answer
and the Government has in place all of those additional
entitlements she has listed, why are working families still
living in poverty?

Hon PAULA BENNETT : It is because
their income is not sufficient, which is why we give them
extra assistance. We also believe that work is the way out
of poverty. The percentage of those who are working and are
in poverty is far fewer than those who are in
benefit-dependent households. It is also a fact that they
can gain skills and experience, which means that they are
more likely to get wage increases and are more likely to get
higher paying jobs. The best thing that we can do is keep on
our track of improving the economy.

Jacinda Ardern :
Given that she has acknowledged that for some families their
wages are insufficient, has she advocated for a greater
increase in the minimum wage to ease the pressure on working
families; if not, why not?

Hon PAULA BENNETT : Because I
want jobs to be available for New Zealanders, and we have
evidence that says that increasing the minimum wage beyond
what businesses can afford to pay means that jobs will be
cut from the economy. That is the last thing we want to see,
because people are far more likely to be in poverty if they
are on a benefit. There is also plenty of evidence that says
that our minimum wage is the seventh highest in dollar terms
in the OECD and on a percentage basis it is actually the
highest.

Jacinda Ardern : Are the additional entitlements
the Minister has listed as coming from the Government
supplementing the fact that we have a low-wage economy and
employers who are not paying working families sufficiently?

Hon PAULA BENNETT : Well, considering that certainly the
in-work tax credits and the Working for Families were
brought in under the previous Labour Government, I
acknowledge that that was to supplement those people who are
working and struggling to get by. It may be because of the
hours that they are working and a range of other factors
like the number of children they have got. So, yes, we
acknowledge that some people need a boost and we are
prepared to give them that, but actually being in work is
the best way to get ahead.

Jacinda Ardern : Does she
stand by her statement that “another target that I can
well and truly point to is making sure that we have more
jobs and better paying jobs in New Zealand.”; if so, what
evidence does she have that she has achieved her target of
better paying jobs?

Hon PAULA BENNETT : Speaking to the
first part of that statement, the fact that we have 22,000
new jobs in the economy in the quarter just to March
actually shows that we are making a difference for those
people—that is a fact.

Jacinda Ardern : I raise a point
of order, Mr Speaker. I gave a quote that the Minister had
previously given, but I asked her to reference the evidence
around better paying jobs.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER : The
difficulty is that the member asked a supplementary question
to which there were two legs, and the Minister has addressed
the first leg of that question.

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